Bottle carrier



July 18, 1944. 'J; F, PCMER 2,353,846

BOTTLE CARRIER Filed March 31, 1941 V INVENTOR. JAMES Pan/.62.

" WWW Patented July 18, 1944 BOTTLE CARRIER James F. Power, South Bend.Ind.

11 Claims.

This invention relates to a bottle. carrier: and

' has for its primary object to provide a novel,

simple, inexpensive and indestructible bottle carrier.

A further object is to provide a bottle carrier which may be collapsedto flat condition.

' A further object is to provide a collapsible carrier construction tobe held erect by the bottles carried thereby. p

A further object is to provide a bottle carrier with a pair of pivotedbails cooperating to form a handle and so proportioned and arranged thatthe same may be pivoted to crossed relation to rest upon the tops ofbottles within the carrier and thereby permit stacking of the carriers.

Other objects will be apparent from the description, drawing, andappended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a perspective view of one form of.

thebottle carrier.

Fig. 2 is a vertical, transverse, sectional view taken on line 2-2'0fFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the device in collapsed condition.

Fig. 4'is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified embodiment of theinvention.

Referring to the drawing, and particularly, to

Figs.v 1, 2, 3, thereof, numeral l designates the base of the carrierwhich is preferably formed of sheet metal with its sides bent around arectangular endless wire base frame IL. The corners of the base arepreferably cut out at ii.

The ends B of the vertical portions H of an inverted U-shaped wiremember arebent around and pivoted to opposite longitudinal runs of thebase frame H adjacent the ends of said runs: A

side panel It may be secured to each U-shaped frame, as by bending ofthe ends thereof around the vertical wire arms I! and by bending of theupper edge portion thereof around the horizontal run l6 of said wireframe. End bars II have their Application March 31, 1941, Serial No.386,050

for dispensing quantities of bottles of soft drinks,

- and therefore that the provision of the panels IS affords space forthe bottler to advertise his product and to insure against thesubsequent use thereof by a bottler in the same locality selling.

a different brand of goods.

An inverted U-shaped wire bail, comprising parallel arms 20 anda crosspiece 2|, has portions 22 at its ends bent around the opposite ends ofthe run ii of one side forming wire frame of the carrier. A secondinverted U-shaped bail. comprising parallel arms 23 of the same lengthas arms 20'of the first named, bail and in intermediate part 2 of alength less than part II of the first named ball, is pivoted to theopposite side forming frame by means ofbent end portions thereofextending around the sides of run It of said side frame. The arms 20 and23 of the two bails are of a length or height such that, when theintermediate portions 2|24 of the balls are arrangeddn engagement asillustrated in Fig. 2, said portions 2 l24 will extend above the tops ofthe bottles I9 and thereby afford a twopart handgrip by means of whichthe carrier may be grasped and held. The length or height of theportions 20 and 23 of the bails is also pro-- 1 portioned relative tothe height of the bottles to be arranged therein so that when the bailsare arranged in crossed or intersecting relation, as

opposite end portions 18 bent around the'upper horizontal wire portionsl6 of the U-shapedside frame.

Bottles I9 are adapted to rest upon the base plate III of the carrier,and are confined within the carrier by means of the side panels J5 andthe end bars ll. The side panels and endbars are so arranged andproportioned as to snugly receive a given number of bottles, forexample, six bottles. The carrier is normally held in erect position bythe bottles, but may be collapsed to flat condition, as illustrated inFig. 3, when the bottles are removed therefrom. It will be unillustratedin full lines in Fig. 2, the bail portion 24 will bear upon the top 'ofthebottle l9b at the side of the carrier opposite that to which thatball is pivoted, while the portion 2| of the opposite bail will restupon the top of bottle Ilia. 'Thisam rangement permits carriers of thistype to be stacked without interference from the handle bails by virtueof the fact that each carrier will rest upon the bail portions 2| and 24of the carrier therebelow and the stacked weight is sustained bythebottles. It will also be observed that the pivotal mounting ofthesehandle bails will accommodate pivoting thereof to the outermostdotted line positions illustrated in Fig. 2,

' rier is to be preferred, it will be understood that derstwd that thesebottles are primarily intended as the body of the carrier, namely thebase and side and end'portions, may be of rigid construction. Y

The twohandle bails 202l and 232 4-may be pivoted to suclra rigidcarrier in the same'relation as illustrated in the preferred embodiment,and may be pivoted to any of the three positions illustrated in Fig. 2;namely, the hand grip position, the stacking position with the bailscrossed and resting upon the tops of the bottles, and the fillingposition with the bails swung to opposite sides clear of each other andof the carrier.

A modified embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 4, whereinthe portions 2| and 24 of the two bails extend through an elongatedhollow member 30. As here illustrated, the member 30 is of substantialvertical dimension and is of flattened form. A pair of openings 3| areformed in member 30 at its upper end, and through these openings passopposed portions of a rectangular endless wire handle member 32.

In this embodiment of the invention, whenthe device is to be collapsed,the member 30 is turned to the dotted line position illustrated in Fig.4 substantially parallel to and adjacent the top of the carrier, whichaccommodates a crossed position of the bails 2l and 23-24. Also, whenin. this position, the handle 32 may be pushed indie and be crossed torest upon the tops of hottles at the'side of said carrier opposite thatto which the bail is pivoted.

3. A bottle carrier comprising a container open at its top and adaptedto receive a pair of rows 'bails being shorter than the other to passtherein,

said bails being of'a height to engage each other at an elevation spacedabove the tops of saidbottles and to rest upon the tops of said bottleswhen arranged in intersecting relation.

4. A bottle carrier comprising a collapsible container open at its topand adapted to receive and be held erect by bottles which project abovethe top of the container, and a pair of hand grip members pivoted tosaid container at spaced points and about parallel axes and havingsubstantially straight gripping portions adapted to engage each otherlinearly at an elevation spaced above the tops of said bottles, saidmembers being arranged to pivot to intersecting relation one within theother and being of a height whereby said gripping portions lie fiat uponthe tops of said bottles when said members are pivoted to intersectingrelation.

5. A collapsible article carrier comprising a base, a pair of invertedU-'shapedwire frames having their lower ends pivoted to opposite sidesof said base, a pair of end bars pivoted at their ends to the adjacentends 'of the upper parts A further advantage'of the device over previousconstructions resides in the arrangement of the handle bails tofacilitate the handling of the carrier, the stacking thereof, orpositioning thereof in an out of the way position during filling of thecarrier. Another advantage of the construction resides in itscollapsibility which permits it to be shipped in flat form withoutrequiring the 1. A carrier comprising a preformedbase, a

pair of preformed walls pivoted at opposite sidesof said base, a pair ofend bars pivotally connected at their ends to the upper ends of saidwalls,

and a pair of preformed bails each pivotally connected to the upperportion of one of said walls adjacent each end thereof, to form ahandle, said carrier being collapsible to fiat form and held erect bythe contents thereof.

2. A collapsible carrier adapted to receive a plurality of rows ofbottles comprising a preformed base, a pair of preformed walls pivotedat opposite sides of said base, a pair of end bars pivoted to the'upperends-of said walls, and a pair of preformed bails each pivotedto'opposite ends of one wall, one of said bails being longer than theother whereby said bails may be pivoted to crossed relation, said bailsbeing of a height to engage above said bottles to form a carrier hanofopposite frames, and a pair of inverted substantially U-shaped wirebails each pivoted at its lower ends to t e upper part of one of saiditframes, said carrier being held erect by its conents.

6. A collapsible article carrier comprising an endless wire base frame,"a base panel mounted on and spanning s'ja'idfbase frame, inverted U-shaped wire side frames having their lower ends pivoted tosaidbasefraine adjacent the corners thereof, end bars pivoted to andinterconnecting the side frames adjacent the upper corners thereof, anda pair of wire bails pivoted to said side frames, said carrier beingheld in erect position by the articles carried thereby.

7. A collapsible article carrier as defined in claim 6, wherein saidbase panel is cut-away at its comers to receive the pivot connections ofsaid side frames with said base frame.

.8. A collapsible carrier as defined in claim 6', and side panelscarried by said side frames and terminating above said base frame, saidbase panel and side panels having cut outs at their corners toaccommodate the pivotal interconnections of said frames, end bars andbails.

9. A carrier comprising a container open at its top, a pair of invertedU-shaped bails pivoted to the opposite sides of said container, and ahandle unit including, an elongated open ended hollow member in the formof a flattened tube receiving the upper portions of. said bails, saidbails being arrangedto pivot to intersecting relation and the majortransverse dimension of said hollow member being substantially equal tothe spacing between the upper ends of said bails when said hails arefolded inwardly to substantially endless handle member extendinglongitudinally of and loosely encircling a portion of said hollow memberfor bodily movement in the plane thereof between retracted andprojecting relations to said hollow member.

11. A carrier comprising a container open at its top, a pair oi invertedU-shaped wire bails pivoted to opposite sides oisaid container, an;

elongated open ended hollow member loosely receiving the upper portionsoi said bails, said hollow member having a short and acomparatively longtransverseaxis, and a rigid longitudinal endless hand grip memberloosely-encircling a portion of said hollow member and shiftableparallel 5 hand grip'and being shiitabl'e to horizontal position' toaccommodate pivoting of said balls to intersecting relation. I i

' JAMES F; POWER.

